Quick Reviews: The Wife, Leave No Trace, The Meg, At Eternity's Gate, Overlord, Mary Queen of Scots

The Wife

The Wife (2018): A wife questions her life choices as she travels to Stockholm with her husband, where he is slated to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The Wife is something of a slow burn. The movie takes almost half of its (brief) 100 minute runtime to get to the the meat and potatoes of its story, but when it gets there Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce shine brightly. Their relationship as Joan and Joe Castleman reveals a mess of deep layers and dynamics as the second half of this film grips you tightly and leads you down a very unpredictable and enticing path. I found myself on the edge of my seat in suspense at the electric final act of the film, also where Glenn Close acts the crap out of this role. However, that does not change the fact that the first half is a very slow burn with some scenes feeling like they lacked a real sense of purpose. And the character Nathanial Bone (Christian Slater) is a rather shallow one who's more of a plot device and (unfortunately) a crutch on the story than a central character partially responsible for the unwinding. There are also some flashbacks to young Joe / Joan that don't go anywhere save a few lines of payoff in the second half. But all of this does not take away from the fact that the second half is really good! The drama is tense, the editing flows well, and Glenn Close is freaking Glenn Close and kiiiiiiiiills it. The overarching story is fantastic: it is absurdly relevant in 2019, and honestly exactly the kind of story Glenn Close deserves right now after such a storied career. If only the backstories for Joan, Joe, David, and Nathanial were a bit more interesting.

​My Number: 6.5/10

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Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace (2018): A father and his thirteen year-old daughter are living an ideal existence in a vast urban park in Portland, Oregon, when a small mistake derails their lives forever.

A deliberate, methodical trek, Leave No Trace is one of those films that moves very slowly but every scene lays the bread crumbs for one of the most emotional moments in all of cinema in 2018. This payoff will run a freight train right through your emotions, and I found myself full-on balling. Thank the Lord I was watching this by myself, because I couldn't even rock the ugly cry at this film's climax. That said, it doesn't change the fact that most of the 99 minutes of this film are VERY slow. I mean, slow burn is putting it mildly: even I found myself a tad bored at points. But I found solace in the craft. Director Debra Granik does a phenomenal job paying meticulous attention to detail in every scene. This is my first film from the American filmmaker, (who's most known for kick starting Jennifer Lawrence's career back in 2010's Winter's Bone) but she is about as methodical a filmmaker as I've ever seen, which is saying something since most of her films have something to do with nature. Her characters are also incredibly human, and phenomenally cast: Ben Foster is basically playing himself as Will, and Thomas McKenzie also feels incredibly natural as Will's daughter, Tom. They're VERY down-to-earth and simple, but they do bring a sense of purpose to the characters. All of this plays into the incredible moment between them at film's end. I'd strongly recommend watching it for the incredible ending, but do be ready for the long, meticulous journey to get there.

My Number: 8/10

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The Meg

The Meg (2018): After escaping an attack by what he claims was a 70-foot shark, Jonas Taylor must confront his fears to save those trapped in a sunken submersible.

So I love mindless popcorn flicks that don't take themselves too seriously. But, there's a very important caveat in there, because I DESPISE films that are supposed to be mindless popcorn flicks that do think they're a big and "important" blockbuster. Well, guess which category The Meg falls into? This film is WAY too self-serious given its absurd subject matter. Rather than try and avoid feeling like "Jaws for the 21st century," which also suffers from being too serious for its own but in 1975 was groundbreaking for what it was, (for better or worse) The Meg leans into that mantra and thinks it's as important and groundbreaking as the Steven Spielberg, uh, classic. This movie is Jaws, but minus the marvel of a giant animatronic shark and great filmmaking. In other words, it sucks. Ya I beat around that bush a little too long. This movie sucks. The film's first act revolves around a drawn out and TOTALLY ABSURD rescue mission in an aquatic world that is below the Mariana Trench, (because, you know, that is a totally plausible venue to stage a rescue mission) then leads into a ridiculous "one man tries to take down a freaking megalodon with a harpoon gun, (Dak may as well take on the empire by himself) before we FINALLY get to what we paid to see: a giant killer shark take on some of the most populated beaches in the world. 90 minutes in. To this 113 minute dumpster fire. Seriously? You do nothing but advertise the "giant shark in populated waters" premise but don't give it to us until LITERALLY the last 20 minutes of the film? Ya, this sucks. But, I do have to give it credit where credit's due. This film, like many major Hollywood summer blockbusters nowadays, shamelessly appeals to the Chinese government so it can be released in what's becoming Hollywood's largest audience outside the US, (China) but UNLIKE most of these blockbusters, actually features a Chinese family storyline, (as opposed to one token Chinese character played by a big Chinese star) complete with native Chinese dialogue with English subtitles. You look at something like Transformers, and you don't see anything outside of a token Chinese character and blatant and ridiculous Chinese product placement. Which is still the norm for most blockbusters. So, I can respect The Meg for going above and beyond there. Unfortunately, that's about the only thing I can respect from this crapshoot. Watch the final 20 minutes one day on YouTube when you've had a few drinks, but don't even bother with the rest of it. Sharknado 5 is a more enjoyable watch than this. 

​My Number: 3/10

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At Eternity's Gate

At Eternity's Gate (2018): A look at the life of painter Vincent van Gogh during the time he lived in Arles and Auvers-sur-Oise, France.

Every so often a movie comes along that is so daring and bold in its filmmaking that I actually cannot get into it. At Eternity's Gate is one of those films, and I can't help but love it nonetheless. My first experience with director/writer Julian Schnabel was certainly a memorable one, as the aesthetics of this movie are some of the most distinguishable I've ever seen, particularly in the cinematography department. Shots are incredibly tight and claustrophobic, the movie is shot almost entirely with hand cams, (and shaky came is used quite a bit) and the editing is unpredictable and coarse. All meant to convey the brash, violent, unpredictable nature of Vincent van Gogh's final tumultuous days. Unfortunately, regulars of this blog know that I frequently complain about many of the aspects I just mentioned, so as you can probably guess...... I was not a huge fan of them. However, I did still appreciate the boldness of the filmmakers (kudos to director Julian Schnabel) to have as much of a creative style as they did. Many modern American films look and feel the exact same, so to see a film go as against the visual norm as At Eternity's Gate was invigorating. Even if it wasn't my thing. Unfortunately, because the aesthetic drew so much attention to itself, I failed to appreciate much of the rest of the film. Willem Dafoe is good, but his nomination for Best Actor definitely comes on the hands of a weak year for the category. But I am happy to have had a chance to see something like this because The Academy deemed it worthy of inclusion in the nominees. But...... I do think Ryan Gosling's performance in First Man was better. That's just like, my opinion, man. 

​My Number: 5/10 (Wildly average)

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Overlord

Overlord (2018): A small group of American soldiers find horror behind enemy lines on the eve of D-Day.

Ok, so a lot of times I feel like I'm constantly complimenting a film for making its characters feel human and genuine, whether that be the result of good acting, good writing, or a combination of the two. Well, if you ever wondered what it looks like when you have poorly written, poorly executed characters that feel like robots..... look no further than Overlord. This film takes an amazing premise - freaking Nazi zombies - and totally butchers it thanks to some of the most robotic, stereotypical characters I've ever seen. That and the fact that there's hardly any actual Nazi zombies in it. Also important. But, nothing against the actors here. I loved John Magaro in The Big Short, for example. But here he plays Tibbet, a totally ridiculous and cardboard cutout New Yorker soldier-type with a poorly executed story arc the film spends entirely too much time focusing on. Boyce (Jovan Adepo) is just the Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan character. No creativity whatsoever. Look, I get it: just turn the brain off and enjoy the Nazi zombies? Ok! ........where are the Nazi zombies? There's hardly any until the second half of the film, and even then most of the time is spent just fighting regular Nazis, and if I wanted a film about killing Nazis I would simply watch Inglorious Basterds again. There's really only like two Nazi zombies in this whole film, and neither follow any of the standard zombie rules. One is also created in a way that made me actually laugh at the screen, and not in a good way. I guess at least the zombies look pretty good? I mean, grasping at straws here but they do look good. Makeup crew certainly did its job. But there's no good story to fall back on, the characters are generic AF, and there's no actual Nazi zombies until long after the halfway point, and even they are pretty ridiculous. Sorry, but it's a no from me. 

My Number: 3/10

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Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Queen of Scots (2018): Mary Stuart's attempt to overthrow her cousin Elizabeth I, Queen of England, finds her condemned to years of imprisonment before facing execution.

Mary Queen of Scots is the classic film that can be summed up in two words: it's fine. It's an overbearing “important” and shamelessly “for your consideration” Oscar-bait film, but it's well acted, has great makeup and costumes, (both somewhat worthy of Oscar nominations - it's no easy feat to make Margot Robbie ugly, after all) but It's soooooo heavy-handed. A completely overbearing score sets the tone for you, the viewer, to understand the gravitas of this film and why the Academy should give it 10+ Oscar nominations. Clearly, Focus Features is trying to fill the void created by The Weinstein Company, but…. is that really the standard you want to grasp for? The “Queen vs. Queen” marketing campaign set forth in the advertising was completely overblown, as most of this film surrounds Queen Mary, (Saiorse Ronan, who, unlike Margot Robbie, doesn't age at a day over the film's 25+ year timeline - someone get me her beauty expert's contact info!) with Queen Elizabeth (Margot Robbie) being mostly delegated to a supporting role until the film's admittedly effective climax. But, of course, how can putting Saiorse Ronan and Margot Robbie on screen together not be great? Especially after building it up for 90+ minutes. In short, Mary Queen of Scots is….. fine. Need I say more?

My number: 5/10